African Insights Blog - March 2006

Starbucks watch out! Here comes Café Pap

I live in a town in the USA that supposedly has more coffee outlets than any place in the USA.  For the uneducated that means you have coffee, espresso drive-ins, drive-bys, drive-throughs, coffee houses, cafes and in all those places there is at least one of those Italian espresso machines. In other words, coffee abounds.

In this part of the country it rains a lot, resulting in more depressed people due to overcast skies. This constant rain means more visits to massage therapists, more visits to mental health therapists, the reading of more books, and listening to more music.   All of this prompts people to think that a double Americano, a latte or a cappuccino in the morning will bring instant cheer as they drive through the Puget Sound drizzle in the Northwest of the USA.

The sun can be out as is most days in Africa and I still enjoy a good cup coffee of most any kind without the rain as long as it rich in flavor and aroma. The problem in East Africa was that coffee was grown there, but the tea that was also grown there was consumed by most resulting in the fact that most East Africans had no clue what a good cup of coffee should taste like.  In the 1990’s finding a good cup in Uganda or Kenya was hit or miss; most often it was the dreadful instant Nescafe coffee.   If you were offered coffee in a home, it would be the instant variety, which had more caffeine but not much taste since the Robusta beans from which it was made lack the rich flavor of the Arabica bean.

In the 90’s I used to travel with my own French press coffee maker, bringing my own coffee, which incidentally was from Africa having been exported to the USA and then I re-imported it back into Africa.  I had bought some local coffee off the shelf in Uganda and Kenya, not aware that all the good stuff was exported at that time.

What a pleasant surprise when in February of 2006 I discovered that Kampala had developed a taste for good coffee!  My eyes lit up when I saw espresso machines were in quite a few places.  Hotels and guesthouses were using the finest Arabica beans for their coffee (I checked) and it seemed to me that some Ugandans here and there were drinking less tea and were having more cappuccinos, lattes, or simply an aromatic cup of coffee.

I ventured into “1000 Cups of Coffee” and found the quality quite nice and thought as I had my double Americano coffee that I had ascended into coffee heaven! Little was I to know this was just a foretaste of what was to come in the form of Café Pap. 

Starbucks future competition is located on Parliament Avenue in the heart of Kampala.  You have to look for it and then if you look just right there it is; bright, clean, beautiful and welcoming.  (No, I am not getting paid to write this for them.)  You can sit inside or out.  I love an outdoors café where you can catch what is happening on the street, or you can sit inside with its warm colors and the smells of food and fresh coffee.

I ordered from a menu covering most anything from fine pastries and desserts to sandwiches; from stir fried vegetables to fish and Chips.  I hoped they would live up to the promise of their menu!

The coffee and cappuccinos came first.  I took a picture of one.  A heart frothed on top with the word “coffee” imprinted. Now, did you ever get that at Starbucks?  The food was delightful, the wait staff fantastic and besides you can use the Wi-Fi network for a reasonable cost or for free if you buy some food.  Lots of people had their laptops turned on.

Café Pap is more than simply a coffee shop in the heart of Kampala.  It shows African entrepreneurship at its best.  It reflects the can do attitude of the new Africa.  It is about being the best one can be.  It is reflected in the employee’s attitude, the cleanliness, the sense of humor, the professional manner and, of course, where else could you get a cup of designer cappuccino.

I came to realize that Africans can take a concept like coffee, like a coffee house, a café, and improve upon it. After all wasn't coffee born in Africa, and if I am not mistaken, so was mankind?

Starbucks is building a new coffee shop wherever one turns.  Specialty Coffee is being consumed in record volumes all over the world.  Here in Uganda, Arabica coffee beans are being grown in the hills.  Shade grown and fair trade coffee is making an impact.  Coffee growers are reaping the benefits from new people tasting quality coffee in the form of a latte, cappuccino or espresso.  And Café Pap, well, they just might take their wonderful café on the road, and I would venture to say that they will be quite successful anywhere from London to New York and even this little town in the Northwest where coffee rules, Bellingham my hometown for the season…jon

Other WebPages you might find of Interest

• Coffee-a bit of background to coffee and where varieties grow in Africa-including Uganda

• Uganda Background Information

• Kampala Restaurants

• Cafe Pap

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